Two Lufkin students to represent all of East Texas in Scripps National Spelling Bee

LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) - Two students will represent all of East Texas in the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee, and they both happen to be from Lufkin.

Aanvi Manda, 4th grader at Brandon Elementary, and Alex Tiu, student at St. Cyprian’s Episcopal School, each talked about their strategy heading into the competition.

“It really, really helps to break down the word, because it’s always good to take a problem in small,” said Tiu. “So, if you were like to have a word like quadrilateral, that’s a simple word -- it’s a four-sided, 2-D shape -- ‘quad’ is four. So, if you didn’t know anything about quadrilaterals, but you knew what quad means, you could say ‘hey, this has something to do with four.’”

WEBXTRA: Lufkin's Alex Tiu to represent East Texas in Scripps National Spelling Bee

Manda said she doesn’t try to just memorize as many words as she can, she tries to learn as much about the word as she can to gain a true understanding.

“Sometimes when you learn how the word came into existence, why, like, the patterns it could follow from that certain language, it really helps the word stick in your memory better,” Manda explained. “Learning the origin of a word helps you get through it quickly and understand it better.”

The 92nd Scripps National Spelling Bee will be held Sunday, May 26 through Friday, May 31 in Maryland.

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Ryan Ordmandy is a multi-media journalist for KTRE 9. He is originally from Paris, Tennessee and moved to Van, Texas in 2010. Ryan graduated magna cum laude from Texas Tech University in 2017 with a degree in Electronic Media and Communications.